See full version: Privilege for Sale
This activity will really hit home for some people. Give people time to debrief and be ready to validate any emotions that come up for the group. It is also a really great activity to refer back to later in the training because a lot of people really connect with this activity and can use it to understand other impacts of bias or prejudice or how additional levels and layers of privilege would interact. [links]
Clarify any points above that you didn’t land with your participants that you feel are particularly relevant and important for the group. Summarize the main learning points that they shared.
The word “privilege” has become really loaded, and a borderline trigger for a lot of people. Further, other activities or interventions meant to help folks “check their privilege” often backfire, or fall short. Keeping this all in mind, Privilege for Sale is (or at least can be ) different. Just be prepared for pushback, and do your best to validate or understand where it is coming from. We’ve had tons of participants, after the training or on a break after this activity, tell us something along the lines of “That was so different from how I’ve always seen ‘privilege’ done.” [links]
A neat way to wrap up this activity is to segue into the Coming Out Handout szp.guide/comingouthandout. You can use this to talk about how not thinking about coming out is a privilege that not all of us have and address the issues related to coming out.
The trick to this activity is not trying to elicit a particular emotional/cognitive response, but being present to whatever your group surfaces , and honing in on that: what’re they feeling, where’s it coming from, what meaning might you make from it? [links]
This activity is a ton of fun if you let your group take the lead, and follow them where they take you. Enjoy the ride.
This activity is very adaptable and can easily be focused for the group that you are working with. If you are working with athletes you could talk about privilege of feeling comfortable changing in locker rooms without the worry of others thinking that you are attracted to them or the privilege of talking openly about your sexuality with your teammates. The more focused that you can make the activity for the group you are working with the better.
What questions did you all wrestle with when trying to make this decision as a group?
Why do you think I gave you money to buy the privileges with rather than say like every privilege costs a token and you get a certain number of tokens as a group? more
What are you taking away from this activity? here
Feel free to share back with the group some of the themes that you noticed in the discussion or wrap up by connecting the activity back to the large conversation you were having about privilege. [links]
If you both have different things or focal points that you get out of the activity then it would be great to focus your wrap up and contributions on those different things.
Note: The term ‘race’ is complex. Race is a social construct and for the purposes of this activity, it is used to refer to a group of people who may be thought of as a unit because they share a cultural or linguistic background or similar ancestry.
Read through the following list of privileges. Each privilege costs $100 to purchase. As a group, please purchase as many privileges as your money allows.
If you are a White entrepreneur, if you have a voice or platform to speak on, now is not the time to feel guilty for what you have been given. It is time to own the responsibility that comes with what you have. Admit that you have received benefits from being White and be humbly grateful for this truth. more
As a business leader, ask yourself how your privileges and gifts can help you be ethically opportunistic in this time. How can you better serve and reach a more diverse demographic of employees, customers, and vendors? How can you shift your corporate culture to celebrate and encourage diversity in the workplace?
Over the years, I took this feeling and channeled it into learning how to be in a room with White people. Instead of hiding in the shadows, it forced something out of me. It pushed me to be better, to want more, and to strive to become the best version of myself. You can call that grit or privilege, but either way, it brought me here: to being an educated investor, successful entrepreneur, and self-aware individual with more resources than the average person. [links]
Accepting that privilege has played a role in your success must occur in order for lasting change to take place. Don't get me wrong. The hard work and effort put into building your business are still wildly important. This simply means the color of your skin hasn't stopped you from the success you have attained. [links]
When you have the privilege to donate a percentage of your annual revenue, give to minority communities or Black-owned businesses. When you have the privilege to hire new staff, recruit graduates from diverse universities, and screen résumés without reading names (which often indicate race and cultural background). When you have the privilege to offer your staff time off, celebrate and acknowledge all religious and cultural holidays. These actions only scratch the surface of what your business can do to leverage your advantage to help others. [links]